Pregame notes: Grant Taylor debut?

HOUSTON -- It's a fun curiosity that Grant Taylor has his parents, grandparents, friends and girlfriend in attendance for his major league debut, has White Sox executives Josh Barfield, Paul Janish and David Keller watching from the sidelines, and already received a congratulatory text from his old LSU teammate Paul Skenes...

"It means the world," Taylor said. "Everything I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid. So, I’m super excited to be here."

...and who knows if he'll actually pitch Tuesday night. Because he's a rookie reliever who doesn't have a defined role yet, and the White Sox are probably hunting a clean, low leverage inning in which to break him in gently.

"There’s going to be a plan in place where we could have multiple innings or one-up from him," Will Venable said. "You won’t see that in the first couple of outings, but it’s something he was working towards in the minor leagues and will continue to work towards here."

Taylor also won't be working on back-to-back nights anytime soon, but Venable said they expect him to get to the point of being a normal reliever by the end of the season. And certainly every White Sox executive expects Taylor to bloom into a high-leverage reliever fairly quickly and organically. But we're certainly at the point both in the White Sox rebuild and the right-hander's development where Taylor pitches scoreless eighth in 8-1 loss wouldn't be a surprising headline.

But the parties involved are looking for a rosier outcome.

"There's a lot of young talent in this group and I think if we all are able to stick together and spend the rest of our time here together, win some games together, build that camaraderie, I think it's a huge benefit to us," Taylor said.

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The White Sox aren't slapping new timeline info on the table, but Jonathan Cannon said he's been able to do some light throwing and plyometric exercises, and that his back is feeling a lot better. He's kind of a naturally upbeat and optimistic person, though. If you're around Cannon and hear him mutter "we're doomed," then a catastrophe is near and it's time to start running very quickly.

Designating for assignment the guy who had allowed 67 hits in 45 1/3 innings doesn't normally require a lot of reflection, but the Sox did throw Bryse Wilson into a lot of difficult assignments en route to his 6.95 ERA. Whether it's guilt or a residual desire to throw him into some new impossible spots, but Venable said the team is hoping Wilson clears waivers and stays in the organization.

"It was a really hard one," Venable said. "Such a good guy, really sacrificed a lot for us and able to pitch in different roles — and that was part of it coming in. He understands his role and the versatility, but he really ate a lot of innings for us, some tough ones too, where he didn’t have his best stuff and continued to pitch and compete. Really appreciative of what he did for us. Now, with his status, we hope that we can retain him."

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At 6-26 (.188) the White Sox are playing worse on the road so far this year than they did in 2024, when their 18-63 road mark set a franchise record for futility. They are 0-11 in one-run road games in 2025.

First pitch: White Sox at Astros

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

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